Chapter 12

The sound of many pairs of hurrying feet entering the garden made us stare across the lawn as Carlton strolled in, with his harem following closely behind. One by one, the girls took their seats under an identical cherry blossom tree on the opposite side of the garden. At the same time, Carlton made his way across to his brother.

"Dear brother, for what is the occasion?" Carlton exclaimed loudly. "I didn't know that you had planned any entertainment this year? We were still feasting in the Great Hall."

"I didn't plan any entertainment for our celebration," Kieran smiled gently, guesting towards two ornate stone thrones perched on top of a mound of grass. "Call it a last-minute treat for you all. I don't think you will be disappointed. You've always said I was too soft. Now comes the time to prove otherwise!. Come dear brother. Take a seat and watch with me."

A loud clanging noise turned our attention away from the two Princes as they sat on the thrones. We watched as 12 heavily armoured guards came marching in, carrying a large metal cage. Without saying a word, they banged the cage down on the lawn noisily before bowing to the Princes and marching off to stand at the end of the garden. A loud sobbing noise came from inside the cage as a loud, angry voice rang out.

"You can't do this to us! We have done nothing wrong! I demand to be let out now! You wait until my parent's find out about this!"

I gasped in shock and quickly held up a hand to my mouth. I recognised the voice and instantly knew that it belonged to Rainie. Peering into the cage from where I was seated, I could just make out Rainie's long orange hair as it stood out against her bottle green dress. Turning around slowly, Rainie's electric blue eyes fell on me, and her mouth opened up into a little 'o' in shock. The sheer look of desperation hit Rainie's face as she realised what exactly was going on.

In the act of desperation, she grabbed onto her boyfriend, Everett. He was also in the cage, alongside four others that I recognised from school. Rainie's best friend Miranda was there alongside Miranda's twin sister, Mandy. They were both tall with jet black hair and bright green eyes. If it wasn't for their tanned skin, you could mistake them for witches. They both sat huddled up to one another in a corner while looking nervously up at Everett and Rainie. There were two other guys in the cage, who I recognised as Buck, a tall, athletic, brown-haired lad, rumoured to be the next wrestling superhero. He was unbelievably quick and powerful in the ring, but he looked anything but in this cage. Then there was Micheal. He was Everett's best friend, and they were both thick as thieves. Micheal didn't care much for schooling or for anything else for that matter. He was always getting into trouble for stealing or beating people up, and rumours said Micheal and Buck were sleeping with the black-haired twins. Kieran stood up and clapped his hands loudly in ecstasy before glaring at the six captives in hatred.

"Silence! How dare you speak out of turn in front of me and in my house too! You have been bought to me on charges of criminal damage towards the property of the Crown. And now you shall pay! Do you have anything to say for your selves!"

"We haven't done anything, Your Highness," Rainie squeaked pathetically. "Please let us go. We don't know what you are on about."

Kieran turned his head to me and bit his lip carefully. Without saying a word, he nodded towards one of the guards, who promptly marched over towards me and dragged me back towards the Prince, who once more addressed his captives.

"Do you recognise this girl, hmm?" Kieran demanded loudly. "Well! Look at her! Do you recognise her or not!"

"It's Elena, from the city," whispered Miranda in shock, glancing at her sister nervously. "I thought, that we, I mean, I thought that she died?"

"Ahh yes, very good!" Kieran clapped sarcastically, not one bit amused. "You do know this girl then. It's weird, but the strangest of things happened to her only a few nights ago. My guards found this girl, Elena, battered and bruised in her blood and close to death on Selection night. Now, did you know that if you are elected as a tribute, that makes you property of the Crown? So essentially, someone damaged my property, which isn't very good. Is it? Would one of you care to explain what happened?"

"Please, Sir," Micheal begged feebly. "We don't know what happened to her. Honestly! Word got out around the city that someone attacked her, and she died. I swear!"

"DO NOT LIE TO ME, BOY!" roared Kieran furiously, grabbing hold of the bars of the cage with both hands and glaring at its captives, which in turn shrank back in fear. "All of your scents was left all over this girl's body and her tribute's dress. How else do you think my team of tracker guards found you all!"

"Please! Please, Your Highness, it was all Everett's idea!" screamed Rainie desperately, pushing Everett closer towards Kieran. "He thought of the plan, and he made us take part. He threatened to beat us all up if we didn't!"

"You lier, Rainie!" Everett yelled, turning around to his Mate. "Is this how you treat your Mate? You said we were in this together forever! This was all your idea. You said it wouldn't come back on us! But you lied. You've chosen to leave me and us by sentencing us to death!"

"SILENCE!" roared Kieren once more while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "I don't care who's idea it was. All I care is about punishing those who harmed this girl, which you all took part in. I've thought long and hard about your punishments. Guards, Bring the hounds in!"

The sound of a heavy wooden door being pulled open made us look down towards the bottom of the garden. We gasped loudly as six more heavily armoured guards walked in, not with hounds, but with six magnificent, fully-grown wolves, on long metal chains.

"Wolves?" I whispered in shock, peering up at Kieren quizzically. "I thought you said hounds?"

"These are my hounds," snickered Kieran gleefully. "That's the thing about being a Wolf Prince! Not only am I Alpha over the werewolves, but I have complete control over the wild wolf packs too! And the Palace has our own wild wolf pack at our disposal!"

"What are you going to do with the prisoners, Your Highness?" I whispered in shock, eyeing up the snarling beasts carefully. "Kieran! Answer me!"

"Watch this," Kieran smiled slowly. "I promised you that I would get revenge on those who hurt you and that I would find them. And now I have. Let the prisoners out of the damned cage. Now!"